Hinchinbrook Dies Following Exercise AccidentYarraman Park Stud has been dealt a huge blow on the eve of the Southern Hemisphere breeding season with the sudden and freak death of their top-class stallion Hinchinbrook.
The son of Fastnet Rock would have been entering his eighth year at stud, but died after suffering a broken hind leg while on the walking machine at the Hunter Valley farm July 16.
Read more: https://www.bloodhorse.com/horse-racing ... e-accident

That is sad, but...is it wise to leave a stallion on a walking machine? TB stallions are notorious for acting up for the slightest reason. Tethering a stud to one of those go-round-in-a-circle machines doesn't seem like the safest way to exercise a hot-blooded horse.

BaroqueAgain1 wrote:Hinchinbrook Dies Following Exercise AccidentYarraman Park Stud has been dealt a huge blow on the eve of the Southern Hemisphere breeding season with the sudden and freak death of their top-class stallion Hinchinbrook.
The son of Fastnet Rock would have been entering his eighth year at stud, but died after suffering a broken hind leg while on the walking machine at the Hunter Valley farm July 16.
Read more: https://www.bloodhorse.com/horse-racing ... e-accident

That is sad, but...is it wise to leave a stallion on a walking machine? TB stallions are notorious for acting up for the slightest reason. Tethering a stud to one of those go-round-in-a-circle machines doesn't seem like the safest way to exercise a hot-blooded horse.

I doubt any high class Thoroughbred farm would use the type that horses are tethered to, in my opinion they are like relics of the past. The walking machines that I've seen in videos and pictures for a long time now, the horses are allowed to freely walk in their section, which has a barrier in front and behind them. Most of this barriers, which look like a solid or impassable barrier to the horse, will move and allow the horse through if something happens. They also have an automatic stop button and would have a handler watching the horse. The thing with horses is, even if you are watching them, they can injury themselves in a split second.

BaroqueAgain1 wrote:Hinchinbrook Dies Following Exercise AccidentYarraman Park Stud has been dealt a huge blow on the eve of the Southern Hemisphere breeding season with the sudden and freak death of their top-class stallion Hinchinbrook.
The son of Fastnet Rock would have been entering his eighth year at stud, but died after suffering a broken hind leg while on the walking machine at the Hunter Valley farm July 16.
Read more: https://www.bloodhorse.com/horse-racing ... e-accident

That is sad, but...is it wise to leave a stallion on a walking machine? TB stallions are notorious for acting up for the slightest reason. Tethering a stud to one of those go-round-in-a-circle machines doesn't seem like the safest way to exercise a hot-blooded horse.

Most TB farms don't use the walking machines where the horses are tied while being exercised. Instead each horse is inside its own moving "stall". A metal screen separates each horse from the ones behind and in front of it.

Shadai has video of their stallions on the walking machine as described, and I know all the safety precautions are there and a person monitoring too, but it still makes me nervous. Then again, we all know what can happen in a blink of an eye despite every precaution... What a tragic accident for Hinchinbrook.

Modern hot walking machines/walking machines rarely use tethers and are pretty safe. A horse can injure itself eating, sleeping, walking, etc. It seems they will always find a way, unfortunately.

My horse would walk as slow as he could in his hotwalker 'stall' until he went under the barrier and would walk with with my sister's horse in his 'stall' (both friendly warmblood geldings, both monitored, just silly guys). Eventually we had to activate the electric current option in the barriers. One little zap when he tried to go under and he was speed walking in no time.

It's a real shame to lose such a nice young stallion, but I wouldn't crucify the farm.

Article said Shaman Ghost bred 92 mares. A mid-level amount of mares in this day and age. I didn’t particularly think he was a California sire, even though he won there. I’d still like to see him in Ontario.

His fee is set as private, but he covered 77 mares in 2017, resulting in 52 live foals, so he seems fertile enough. I'd imagine his book is kept pretty small and select, but as long as he is is healthy and continues to have 2 or 3 graded stakes winners from each crop, I hope he continues to cover mares.

It sounded like Stronach was trying to get out of the Kentucky breeding game when he announced that Shaman Ghost would stand in California and Adena Springs Kentucky was for sale.